Commonwealth Bank begins India operations

Lender taps the homeland of 400,000 Indian population in Australia.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has become the 1st Australian bank to start functioning in India. The bank would concentrate chiefly in areas such as trade finance, remittances and foreign exchange services.

Simon Blair, group executive, international financial services of CBA said, “We have chosen India as one of our preferred growth markets along with China, Indonesia and Vietnam. We are increasingly looking at emerging markets. But links to Australia are important for us.”

By Australian links, he was talking about the 400,000 Indian population living in Australia. They are the bank’s targets for remittance business.

ANZ Bank, its competitor has also asked for banking license in India. ANZ had to quit from India due to its implication in the Harshad Mehta Scam.

View the full story in Bank Bazaar.